


Easing a Guilty Heart

by naohime



Series: 𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔬𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯 [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Death, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Moving On
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 02:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18274334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naohime/pseuds/naohime
Summary: Sometimes, the only thing that could ease a guilty heart was the comfort of another.





	Easing a Guilty Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I still haven't finished Final Fantasy VII. For some reason, I keep stopping and picking it up again. Not that I'm playing it. I'm too stupid for something as complex as FFVII. 
> 
> Still, I can't wait till the remake comes out! I love me some Cloud Strife and friends.
> 
> Also, we studied subtext in AP Lit the other day, and so I decided I might as well give it a shot. I tend to be very blunt in my writing -- very much so like in real life.

Eveith knelt in front of the mound of dirt, knees encrusted with clay and pebbles embedded in her skin. She had changed out of her regular dancer’s outfit for a more modest blouse and skirt. Odran never liked seeing her dressed for men’s entertainment even though he knew she loved dancing. It gave her the opportunity to take care of him and that was all she ever asked for.

However, she refused to wear shoes. Eveith walked to his grave barefoot, enduring the scorching ground and sharp rocks, as a reminder of her failure to save him. Blisters stung the bottom of her feet, but she fought the urge to cry. She had no right to shed a single tear when Odran was in the ground, unable to even do so.

Eveith had spent the morning traveling to his grave, and remained there through the afternoon. She had never mourned over their parents, so she was somewhat at a loss of what to do. Was she to talk? Was she to pray? The only thing she knew to do was to place the flower plucked from Aerith’s church upon his grave. Odran once bought a flower from Aerith and offered it to her, but Eveith would always scold him for wasting well-earned gil on such trivial commodities. Now, she wished she had just accepted it.

The sound of a baritone engine roared in the distance, and Eveith didn’t have to look to know who it was. Only eight other people knew of this isolated location, and only one of them owned a motorcycle.

As soon as she heard a pair of boots crunch on the dusty gravel, Eveith asked, “Why are you here?”

“Tifa asked me to check on you. She said you’d been gone all day.”

“Oh, so if she didn’t ask you wouldn’t have come?” Eveith turned her head to give him her signature coy smile, and Cloud covered part of his face with a hand almost sheepishly. Her grin fell into a somber expression, and she looked at the lone flower guarding Odran. “I know. It’s getting late.” And yet she didn’t move.

Eveith startled when Cloud lowered himself and sat next to her, arm resting casually on a propped knee. He stared towards the distance where the sun was dipping below the horizon, but his mako eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular. Eveith shifted her position so that she could pull her knees to her chest, and buried her face.

“I’m sorry,” said Cloud quietly. For a moment, Eveith wondered if she imagined it.

“It’s not your fault,” she told him. “It’s mine. I should’ve been more careful.”

“Is that why your feet are bleeding?”

Eveith bent her gaze to her feet, where blood had seeped between her toes and dyed her skin like a tattoo. She hadn’t even noticed the pulsing pain until Cloud pointed it out. Her silence told Cloud everything he needed to know, and he gave a great sigh.

“Shinra killed him. You know it.”

She curled her toes into the ground, squeezing the pain into herself. “But they’re not here anymore.”

She could feel Cloud staring intensely at her, but she resisted the urge to look at him. If she did, she knew she would be unable to stop the floodgate of tears. Though it had been a year, his vibrant blue orbs reminded her too much of Odran’s final moments. The brightness in Cloud’s eyes only mocked the lack of life in Odran’s own. She couldn’t remember the last time she had looked at him in the eyes.

Eveith was unsurprised and somewhat relieved when her usually silent companion stood up and walked away. Perhaps she would be able to continue her atonement in peace. However, to her disappointment, he returned, and knelt in front of her. Eveith widened her eyes and scooted backwards, ignoring the needles in her feet. “Wh-what are you doing?”

Cloud didn’t respond, and instead gently took her foot in his hand. Eveith noticed the first aid kit beside him and tried to pull her ankle away, but his grip was firm. She resigned herself to her fate, and begrudgingly allowed Cloud to apply the ointment to her soles. Eveith watched as he wrapped her foot in bandages and proceeded to move to the next one. The setting sun outlined his form with a golden silhouette and cast his shadow over her own figure.

“My friend was killed by Shinra.” Cloud broke the silence between them with his soft yet sincere voice. That was one thing Eveith liked about Cloud; even if he was reserved, he was always genuine when he spoke. “If he hadn’t tried saving me, he would still be alive. I blamed myself for a long time.”

Eveith regarded Cloud attentively, searching for the slightest twitch of an eyebrow or a flicker of emotion in his passive face. She flinched when he met her gaze, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away. Her lip trembled.

“Punishing yourself doesn’t change anything. It only hurts the one you grieve for.”

And, just like that, the floodgates burst. Her wails filled the desert. Fat tears splattered on the ground, wetting Odran’s grave and his flower. All of the sorrow that she had locked away in her heart spilled from her mouth and her eyes. Gone was the pain from her feet, replaced by the anguish in her heart. Eveith hadn’t realized how numb she had been until this moment, and she was frightened by the emotions that overwhelmed her.

* * *

Eveith didn’t remember falling asleep. However, she did remember waking up to the sight of an ex-SOLDIER with crossed arms, asleep in a chair beside her bed.


End file.
